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How to see Jupiter tonight

As the Juno spacecraft goes into orbit around Jupiter on July 4, amaze your friends by showing them Jupiter in the night sky.

The moon and Jupiter on the night of June 10, 2016. Plus a moondog, a 22-degree halo and an upper tangent arc. From our friend Dee Hartin in Australia.

Want to find Jupiter this evening, as the Juno spacecraft is going into orbit around it? It’s easy. Jupiter is the brightest “star” on July, 2016 evenings. It lights up the sky almost immediately after sunset. Go outside, and look generally westward, the direction of sunset. The brightest starlike object up there will be Jupiter.

Jupiter can be seen from all parts of Earth. From mid-northern latitudes, the king planet shines in the southwest sky at nightfall. From the Southern Hemisphere, look in the north to northwest sky as darkness falls.

As evening falls, Mars and Saturn shine on one side of the sky, while Jupiter appears in the west, as shown on the chart below.

Deborah Byrd created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994. Today, she serves as Editor-in-Chief of this website. She has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named 3505 Byrd in her honor. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century. "Being an EarthSky editor is like hosting a big global party for cool nature-lovers," she says.